Gov. Tom Corbett says shutting down the state-owned liquor stores, auctioning off the existing wine and liquor store licenses and opening beer and wine sales to places like supermarkets and convenience stores will raise millions of dollars to fund education and give the vast majority of Pennsylvanians what they want: more choice and convenience.

"The tourists come here and say, 'You guys are crazy.' The people of Pennsylvania don't deserve to be treated like that here in the 21st century," Corbett said Wednesday afternoon.

Surrounded by about a dozen state lawmakers at his downtown office in Piatt Place, Corbett said the plan would modernize the state's "antiquated" way of selling alcoholic beverages and create competition -- all of which would benefit consumers, he said.

"What have we been running for 75 years here? A monopoly," the governor said. "We have laws against monopolies in this country, but we are allowing the state to remain in a monopoly when it comes to selling wine and liquor. I think that's ludicrous in this day and age. It's a vestige of Prohibition, decades and decades ago. It's time to move out."

Under the proposal, owners of supermarkets, drug stores, restaurants and big-box stores would be able to buy separate licenses to sell beer and wine. Convenience store owners would be eligible to sell beer while the state's licensed beer distributorships would be able to bid for licenses to sell wine and liquor.

Corbett said most Pennsylvanians want the same kind of convenience that's available in 48 other states when they buy beer, wine and liquor. But Pennsylvania's control over liquor sales has withstood similar privatization efforts of the three Republican governors before him.

“The amount of revenue that we lose in situations where people go over to Maryland or over to Delaware or over to New Jersey, is about $80 million a year going outside the state to purchase,” said Corbett.

Wendell W. Young IV, the president of the union that represents about 3,000 unionized state store clerks, said privatization of wine and liquor sales would diminish consumer choice and state tax revenue while raising liquor consumption rates and the crime and health problems that follow.

"Why would we want to be like the 48 other states when we're already so much better than them?" Young asked.

Democrats are largely hostile to efforts that will put unionized liquor store clerks out of work, and leaders of the Republican-controlled Senate are cool to the idea.

Sen. Charles McIlhinney, the Bucks County Republican who chairs the committee that handles liquor control legislation, said he would introduce a bill to allow beer distributors to buy licenses to sell wines and liquor while keeping the state's wine and liquor stores open.

“(It’s) just as a matter of convenience,” he said. “It's pretty common, now, across states, and other people from other states come to Pennsylvania and it's mass confusion. They don't know what to do.”

Keisha Stinson said she thinks Corbett’s plan is a good one.

“I like to drink wine. If it were close and convenient and cheap, I wouldn’t mind doing that,” she said.

Cashiers selling alcohol at all the new venues will have a new way to fight underage purchases if the plan goes through. They will scan IDs, and if it shows the buyer is not 21, they’re out of luck.

“That will be part of their license (that) they understand that they could be suspended or lose their license. The technology today allows us to do that and we should be doing it,” Corbett said.

A bill to privatize state liquor stores could be floated in the state house of representatives within the next few weeks.

Copyright 2013 byWTAE.comThe Associated Press contributed to this report. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

"Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation" opened to an estimated $56 million at the U.S. box office over the weekend. This total was the second-best "Mission: Impossible" opening ever, just missing out on the $57.8 mil...